Posted on January 29, 2025
At a special event at Islington Assembly Hall yesterday, attendees also commemorated the victims of atrocities and genocides worldwide, including in places such as Rwanda, Bosnia, Darfur, Iraq, and Cambodia.
The event included guest speakers, such as Gerry Hahlo, who told the story of how his grandfather, Georg, escaped from Nazi Germany – after eluding capture in the 1938 November pogroms and pleading with police for a permit to travel.
Having secured himself a visa to travel to Bolivia, Georg ensured the safety of his young children – including Gerry’s father, Dieter, on one of the “Kindertransport” trains to England.
Gerry’s book “The Boy on the Train: A Father and Son’s Kindertransport Story”, tells the story of his grandfather’s escape and his father’s new life in England.
Meanwhile, a student from Arsenal’s Sixth Form programme, Evie Griffin, told attendees about their visit to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp and a Jewish cemetery as part of an educational day trip.
The World Harmony Orchestra, whose musicians include refugees from around the world, also performed at the Assembly Hall, and Yiddish songs were performed.
This year marks the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi concentration camp, and the 30th anniversary of the genocide in Bosnia. The theme for this year’s Holocaust Memorial Day was “For a Better Future”, with people around the world being invited to learn from the Holocaust and more recent genocides.